Overseas

Our tailored support ensures that prisoners are able to maintain a basic standard of living and physical health and we help to prevent cultural and linguistic exclusion.

The Craig Feehan Fund

The Craig Feehan Fund is a survival grant sent to British prisoners detained in developing countries. In many parts of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Middle East and South and Central America, prison systems are unable to provide adequate food or other basic necessities. Prisoners Abroad sends a grant so that prisoners can buy what they need to survive.

Last year the Craig Feehan Fund was sent to 358 people in 44 countries with payments totalling £95,259. The fund is named after one of the founders of Prisoners Abroad.

“Just knowing that it is coming every quarter makes me feel safer, knowing that I will be able to support myself while imprisoned.”

The chart below shows the regions where the Craig Feehan Fund was needed last year.

“I appreciate it more than I can put into words. I don't know, or I don't want to know what it would be like here without it.”

Vitamin Fund

Last year 172 people in 14 countries also received grants totaling £6,663 to purchase multi-vitamins to help them supplement their diet.

Medical Fund

Where prison authorities fail to provide treatment for health conditions, Prisoners Abroad provides Medical Fund payments so that British prisoners can get the help they need. Last year £11,080 of Medical Fund payments were made to overseas prisoners. The chart below shows the percentage of countries that receive payments from our Medical Fund.

Contact, learning and well-being

Being in prison overseas can be a truly isolating experience: language barriers can mean prisoners are unable to communicate with anyone around them; English reading material may be scarce, and even writing home may not be possible unless you have money to buy stamps and stationery. We offer freepost envelopes to prisoners so that they are able to write home.

Over the course of last year Prisoners Abroad sent 212 language materials (text books and dictionaries) to individual prisoners, and parcels containing a total of 148 language learning books were sent out to consular staff in many posts around the world to distribute to prisoners including Barcelona, Bucharest, Caracas, Guangzhou, Lisbon, Manila, Mumbai, Prague, Rome and Zagreb.

We sent 3,509 magazines, 4,024 newspapers, 1753 books, 1,846 Christmas cards and 793 birthday cards (one to every client whose date of birth we have on record). We also matched up 53 prisoners with a pen-pal. Overseas prisoners sent us 1348 letters using our international freepost envelopes which were forwarded to family and friends.